Many trailers, especially boat trailers, are long and have draw bars with hitches at the front of the trailer frame that extend forwardly of the trailer frame, far from the rear end of the trailer or the rear end of the boat carried by the trailer. This has the potential of making the storing of a boat and its trailer difficult and/or expensive when the storage is in a garage that is too short. To store a boat and its trailer in a short garage, the owner of the trailer might be forced to choose between expanding the size of the garage where the trailer is to be stored, or buying a smaller trailer. The size of the trailer is important, especially for boat trailers, where the length of the trailer determines the maximum length of the boat that can be safely towed on the trailer.
One solution to over length trailers is a pivotal towing draw bar. Prior art hitch assemblies having foldable draw bars are taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,398,742 (Sanders), U.S. Pat. No. 5,503,423 (Roberts et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,617 (Rowland et al.).
The Sanders patent discloses a tongue or draw bar of a boat trailer is cut and then the ends are releasably hinged together by a pair of spaced apart, parallel hinge pins, either of which can be withdrawn to permit the forward end of the draw bar to be swung laterally about the remaining pin, to a position beside the rear of the draw bar to an inactive position. This effectively shortens the overall length of the draw bar so that the associated trailer can be readily stored in a conventional garage. The hinge mechanism comprises a pair of tubular members designed to be slid over the cut ends of the draw bar, and then to be bolted and/or welded to the associated draw bar section. Confronting ends of the hinge members have thereon two sets of cooperating hinge barrels, which releasably support the two hinge pins about spaced apart, vertical axis adjacent opposite sides, respectively of the draw bar.
The Roberts et al. patent discloses a tubular hitch sandwiched between top and bottom plates. Holes through the hitch and plates are aligned with one another and the tubular casing is inserted through the holes. Thereafter, the ends of the tubular casings are swaged or expanded by pressing bullet shaped pins into opposite ends of the casing. The swaging effect securely fastens the components. Finally, pins are inserted through the casings to mount the swing away hitch on the trailer.
The Rowland et al. patent discloses a draw bar of a trailer sandwiched between two plates with holes that align with tubular sleeves welded on opposite sides at the end of a hitch cover to convert it to a swing away hitch. Pins are inserted to mount the swing away hitch onto the swing away hitch assembly. In a towing position, both pins stay in their sleeves. In a stow-away position, one pin is removed and the swing away hitch swivels via the remaining pin away to the side of the trailer.
A problem with the prior art foldable trailer draw bar structures is the cost of manufacturing a structurally reliable and strong connector between the foldable parts. The prior art systems include multiple parts that must be aligned, bolted, and/or welded together. The pivotal trailer hitch of Applicant's previous U.S. Pat. No. 6,595,540 addresses this problem by disclosing and claiming embodiments of a pivotal hitch assembly including a hitch that is pivotally coupled to mounting plates that are rigidly attached to a draw bar of a trailer. The hitch includes a pair of connector tubes that receive pins that couple the hitch to the mounting plates. The hitch is manufactured from a single blank of material. The connector tubes are formed by bending or rolling a portion of the blank into a generally tubular shape. Bending or folding of the blank forms the hitch such that the hitch is generally U-shaped.
The present application provides other approaches to address the need for a strong and easily operated foldable trailer hitch assembly that can be inexpensively manufactured and assembled.